282 HEREDITY AND DISEASE 



suggestion. The point may be illustrated with reference to 

 suicidal mania. 



Debierre (1897, p. 19) cites a case, reported by Macca- 

 bruni, of a suicide's family. Out of seven, three made 

 away with themselves ; a fourth, who was assassinated, left 

 a child who committed suicide. But the tragedy of the in- 

 heritance of a suicidal tendency is increased by the fact that 

 it may manifest itself in the offspring at precisely the same 

 age and in precisely the same way as it did in the parent. 



" A monomaniac in the prime of life, Moreau de Tours reports, 

 was seized with melancholia and drowned himself ; his son, in 

 good health, rich, the father of two well-endowed children, 

 drowned himself at the same age." In another case a man 

 who had met with a disappointment tried to drown himself, 

 was rescued, but afterwards accomplished his design. It was 

 found that his father and one of his brothers had committed 

 suicide at the same age and in the same manner. 



It should, we think, be borne in mind that the outcrop of a 

 morbid hereditary tendency at the same age — often a critical 

 age — in father, son, and grandson, may not be any more mys- 

 terious than that they should begin to shave at the same age. 

 Nor should we exaggerate the tragedy of similar suicides by 

 forgetting that the methods available are not very numerous. 

 Originality is as rare in suicide as in other actions. Thirdly, 

 we should remember the dire influence of suggestion : secret 

 brooding over the nature of the father's death has doubtless in 

 many cases added weight to the hereditary burden. 



(3) In regard to the transmissibility of nervous disorders of 

 exogenous origin — i.e. traceable to some external shock or wound — 

 it may be enough to quote the deliberate conclusion of an expert 

 pathologist : "I can find no facts which prove that an acquired 

 disorder of the nervous system can be transmitted to the off- 

 spring " (E. Ziegler, 1886, p. 30). Where a nervous breakdown 

 followed a shock, a wound, or an illness such as pneumonia, 



